


The Beginning

by doridoripawaa



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, dimileth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:01:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22169080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doridoripawaa/pseuds/doridoripawaa
Summary: The goddess is trying to send Byleth a message. What could it possibly mean?
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 2
Kudos: 70





	The Beginning

The last time Byleth had awoken from dreams of a mysterious young girl, her life underwent a dramatic change.

Hopefully this time she would not face the same result.

She was grateful for the first twist of fate, in all honesty. Without that chance encounter, she and her father would never have run into the students of the Officers Academy or the Knights of Seiros. Although her road from that momentous meeting had been a bumpy one, full of twists, turns, and detours, it had ultimately led to her marrying Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, now king of Faerghus. It had led to her becoming the Archbishop of the Central Church at Garreg Mach monastery. Just as their paths had set off together and been inextricably interwoven, Dimitri and Byleth still supported each other in their roles today. A life with Dimitri is one that she wouldn't trade for the world.

So what could she do about these dreams?

'I feel as though I recognize her, though,' Byleth mused as she threw off her blankets and rose to her feet. She threw her arms up over her head in a long stretch like the cats on the monastery grounds had a tendency to do. 'I've only seen the back of her head, but still, she seems so familiar.'

Last time, Sothis had faced her and spoken directly to her. The dreams were vastly different. 'I could see her body and her hair, but I could never catch up to her to see her face.'

Honestly, the fact that she could never quite reach this mystery girl was a mystery in and of itself. Jeralt and the mercenaries constantly used to comment on her speed, praising her as if she were the wind goddess from Duscur.

Perhaps they weren't too far off.

'Even though I've slowed in my age, I'm still fairly swift,' Byleth mused as she walked up to her mirror and began to brush some wayward strands of hair into some semblance of order. She raised her hand to begin pulling back her bangs, and with a tut she ran a finger over one of her thicker scars on her forearm, one she had obtained against pirates on the southern coast of Adrestia as a teenager. 'I may have been fast enough to catch her when I was around that age, actually.'

A sharp clatter echoed in the otherwise silent room as a gold-plated hairbrush dropped onto the floor. The azure hair sticking up in multiple directions. The rustic clothes and makeshift armor. The scar on the back of her forearm.

A sudden wave of dizziness rushed over Byleth. She tried to scramble to a standing position, but her vertigo and her bewilderment sent her sitting back down immediately. "That girl…"

She needed to speak with Seteth at once.

* * *

The clack of heeled boots resounded throughout the stone hallways of Garreg Mach at a somewhat rapid pace. Byleth was usually stoic and difficult to read, but somehow she felt as though her discomfort was radiating off of her in waves. She needed to find Seteth as swiftly as possible, but she also did not want to alert anyone as to her unease.

"Prof- I mean, Archbishop!"

Byleth stopped in her tracks as a familiar, cheerful voice called out to her from a nearby classroom. A perky ginger-haired girl peeked out of the room with a wide smile, her arms loaded with tomes and books. "It's so good to see you!"

Byleth's features softened as she waved at her former student. "Hello, Annette," she greeted her warmly. "Those books look heavy. Can I lend you a hand?"

Annette immediately shook her head, sending her fiery curls flying around her face. "Oh no, I could never ask that of you!" she insisted, although Byleth could tell that the petite girl was struggling under the weight of her load. "In fact, is there anything that  _ I  _ can help  _ you  _ with?"

Byleth raised her hand as if she were about to wave Annette's offer away, but she stopped before actually speaking. Annette was at the top of her class back when she studied sorcery, she was among the top of the class here at Garreg Mach, and now she was a full-fledged Warlock in service of the Central Church. Annette's skill with reason and knowledge of magic could prove useful.

"Archbishop? Are you okay?" Annette asked, snapping Byleth back to the present. She found herself staring at her hand which was suspended in mid-air.

'I would probably be concerned if I saw this, too,' the green-haired woman thought. She stifled a sigh and lowered her hand back to her side. "Actually, Annette, I have a question for you. You see, I've been having strange dreams that have been making it difficult for me to sleep."

Annette blinked. "Do you… need me to sing you a lullaby?" she asked, clearly perplexed. She tilted her head to the side and gazed up at the sky. "I mean, Felix asks me to do that when he's sore after training, so I don't really mind, but-"

Byleth cut her off before she could carry her bizarre train of thought any further. "No, thank you. I have no problems falling asleep," she reassured her. That tidbit about Felix though… Maybe she should tell the king that fun fact. "In these dreams, I see myself. Not the present me, but a younger me, from my time as a mercenary or maybe right as I started teaching here." She paused to make sure Annette was following along. The bright young mage was hanging onto her every word, so she continued. "But they aren't just memories, because I am not looking through my own eyes. I'm looking through someone else's eyes. In these dreams, I'm always staring at the back of my younger self, as if I'm watching over her." Her voice was growing lower and more strained with every sentence, as she racked her brain trying to think of some sort of explanation for this phenomenon. "Any idea what it could mean?"

Annette closed her eyes and nodded slowly as she processed the wave of information. Gently, deliberately, she lifted her head and then flung her eyelids open to stare directly into Byleth's emerald eyes. "Let's go to the library," she said simply. "I think the books can explain better than I can."

* * *

_ "The Beginning." _

That was how Sothis had first introduced herself to Byleth. Those words still echoed in her mind, in that mischievous, high-pitched, but wise voice, as clearly as if the goddess were speaking them now from deep within her heart.

They sounded different coming from Mercedes' mouth, but the weight they carried had not changed at all.

"Since you became the archbishop, has the goddess sent you any messages?" Mercedes inquired gently. Annette had fetched her from the cathedral before dragging Byleth up to the library, where the three of them sat around a table and spoke in hushed, fervent whispers. "Any signs? Any revelations?"

How could she possibly tell this devout, earnest young woman that the goddess had spoken to her  _ before  _ she ever became the archbishop? Byleth simply shook her head, sending her seafoam green locks dancing and bouncing around her face. 'Another influence of the goddess,' she thought. Even her hair had transformed after she and Sothis became one.

"Well, maybe this is her first attempt to show you something!" Annette exclaimed excitedly. "Since Sothis is the beginning, she must have the power to reveal any aspect of time since, well, the beginning! Maybe the goddess wants to show you some visions of your past!" She nodded vigorously, clearly confident in her conclusion.

"Now, Annie, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Mercedes suggested gently, resting her hand on her eager friend's shoulder. "That is just one possible explanation… although it does make quite a lot of sense." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Maybe… maybe she wants to warn you about the future by showing you the past. Maybe she wants you to apply something you did or learned in the past in order to deal with an upcoming situation."

Annette scowled and propped her elbows on the table. With a sigh, she leaned forward and rested her chin on her hands. "But it's been so peaceful lately," she groaned. "I hope that no trouble is coming. Isn't there a more direct way to warn the archbishop?"

Mercedes chuckled softly. "She is the beginning," she murmured. "But the future…"

"Belongs to us," Byleth finished. She was no expert in magic or even in the teachings of the church, but she could surmise what the situation was. "Can she only talk to me in my dreams? Can't I try to see these visions while I'm awake?"

Mercedes and Annette looked at each other. "Well, maybe if we took you to the holy tomb?" Mercedes proposed. 

"And Hanneman may know a way to use the power of your Crest to open communications with the heavens," Annette added. "But sending you alone to roam around, even in a vision, sounds rather…" 

"Dangerous," Byleth guessed, and both women nodded. "What if someone else went with me?"

Annette shook her head. "They would need your Crest, or else need to be strong enough to withstand the magic of your Crest. Someone with a Crest that gives supernatural strength may be able to join you, but…"

Byleth jerked her head upward, eyes sparkling. "You don't need to worry," she assured them as calmly as possible. "I know exactly who to take with me to protect me."

The natural choice. The only one who could endure her path and walk it with her.

"Call for King Dimitri at once."

* * *

Hand in hand.

That was how Byleth and Dimitri had gotten through their darkest days in the midst of war, of heartbreak, of loss, of redemption. 

That was how they made their vows to spend their lives together, as they exchanged rings of love, of respect, of promise, of forever.

That was how they were embarking on this mysterious new path together. Dimitri's large and calloused, but gentle, hand rested atop Byleth's extended small and warm, but strong, hand above a small circle drawn in the center of Hanneman's study. Mercedes had spread protective white magic around the entire room while Annette worked on a spell to keep the pair grounded.

Hanneman had been flipping vigorously across tomes as he wove together his magecraft to call forth the power of Byleth's and Dimitri's Crests. The Crest of Flames and the Crest of Blaiddyd. Beauty and the beast, in a sense.

As Hanneman's hushed incantations finally came to an end, suddenly the temperature in the room dropped dramatically. Shivers began to race up and down the archbishop's spine as the circle before her began to glow in a mysterious green light. She could feel her blood beginning to ache and throb, and a tight grip clenched onto her heart like a vice.

An even tighter grip clutched her hand. Byleth's emerald gaze drifted to the man beside her, usually holding his head high and proud as the king of Faerghus, now revealing the vulnerability that he only showed as Dimitri, a mere warrior and loving husband. Instinctively she reached out her other hand and rested it atop of his.

Dimitri seemed to be startled by this swift and simple gesture, for he turned his head now to look directly at Byleth. He smiled softly and mouthed a single word at her. "Warm."

Even among this bitter, otherworldly cold, the green-haired woman by his side always held a heavenly warmth.

Unfortunately, Byleth did not get the opportunity to respond before a blinding light flashed before them and seemingly swallowed the room whole.

A bursting, brilliant light followed by blackness.

* * *

_ "Fire!" _

A searing heat engulfed Byleth as flames swallowed the air and licked at her skin. She blinked open her eyes to see a field of fire surrounding her on all sides. All traces of that chilling cold had been completely washed away.

People dashed around madly, trying to protect themselves from falling, burning debris and also to navigate across the treacherous terrain to safety. Families clung to each other as parents hurried with furrowed brows and children weeped out of fear and confusion. Some of the parents were crying, too.

Immediately Byleth began to look for an escape route, but instead her eyes landed on something even more alarming than the ferocious flames. A group of bandits appeared to be sneaking out through a tangled path in the trees, toting not only bags of loot but also torches. Did they set fire to this innocent town?

"Your Grace, look!" 

Dimitri let go of her hand for a split second to point towards one of the burning houses. A man paced back and forth in front of the entrance, as if searching for a way in. "My wife! My daughter!" he wailed. "Help! Help them!"

Instinctively, Byleth dashed forward to lend aid to the man. Momentarily she had forgotten that this was just a vision, a memory, and that she could not actually step into the scene and provide assistance. One of the flickering flames lapped at her arms, and she flinched away in a panic as the searing heat nearly scorched her arm.

This  _ was  _ just a dream, right?

A blur of blue flashed past her eyes, and Byleth swung her head around to see a very familiar mop of azure hair dash into the burning building. 'That's right,' she thought, still slightly dazed by the vivid reality of the memory. 'My father and I went after some bandits, but they ended up setting fire to the town. We were able to rescue most of the people who lived there, too.'

What about the mother and child that she had just ran in to save?

Sure enough, in only a moment, the young mercenary emerged with her arms around a woman who cradled a baby. 

"Safe and sound," she breathed. "But isn't this the part when--"

As she reached for a familiar burn scar on her left shoulder, Byleth could only watch in horror as one of the awnings of the house began to fall towards the three people scurrying outside. 

"Professor!"

Byleth turned her head around to face Dimitri, to assure him that she was okay, that she would be okay, that she had dodged the falling frame and escaped with just a minor scar.

But he wasn't reaching for Byleth the archbishop. He was calling out to Byleth the teenager. 'As caring as always,' she thought with a small, sorrowful smile, before the flames suddenly flickered out and left the pair in blackness once more.

* * *

"A baby?" Jeralt's stern, stoic, scarred face for once looked… scared. "I'm a mercenary, not a midwife," he muttered gruffly. "And that goes for kid here, too," he added quickly before placing his hand firmly on young Byleth's shoulder.

"Please just… protect the house! While we're all helping with the delivery, we need extra manpower!" The noble before them was wringing his hands in a panic. "I cannot bear to let anything happen to my baby or to my valuables."

Even after hearing his pleading, Jeralt still looked uncertain. "I… do not do well around these types of things," he mumbled. A tug on his sleeve drew his attention to his daughter, who gazed up at him with her wide, round, cerulean eyes. Sometimes they seemed empty or hollow, but the vigor and determination in them right now caught Jeralt off guard. "Well, if you insist, and if the pay is good…." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. 

"What a peculiar request," Dimitri whispered from Byleth's side. They had regained consciousness in the hallway and stayed there, so as not to interrupt the negotiations. "Most nobles must have their own butlers, knights, or some other forces. They must be particularly wealthy or in a particularly dangerous area."

"More importantly," Byleth whispered back, "why does the goddess want me to see Jeralt looking so…"

She trailed off as the blue-haired girl in the next room turned her head. The girl stared directly into the hallway, but her expression did not reveal any surprise or any other trace of emotion.

"Can she see us?" Dimitri asked in a low voice, and his hand began to trail down toward the sword at his hip.

These  _ were  _ just visions, right?

The scene before them faded to black before Byleth had a chance to figure out the answer.

* * *

The next location was a familiar one for both of the time travelers. They materialized in the back of the Blue Lions' classroom at Garreg Mach. Judging from the red and orange light that was filtering through the arched stone entrance, they had not arrived in the middle of a class, but rather after class, in time for a private lesson. Footsteps began to echo on the paved path outside, and hastily Byleth and Dimitri looked at each other then searched for a hiding place. Byleth slid her slender body behind a bookshelf, while Dimitri ducked behind the blackboard at the front of the room. 

"Thank you for meeting me at this hour, Professor," a young man's voice sounded from outside. "I simply am… struggling to grasp how to calculate the proper angle at which to hold my arms when throwing a javelin." The voice was growing louder and clearer with each step.

"That depends on each person," a female voice responded. Her tone was surprisingly flat for someone who was supposed to be giving advice, but Byleth had a feeling that this voice, her voice, was always lacking emotion. At least, it was when she first started teaching at the Officers' Academy.

Soon two figures rounded the corner and entered the classroom, and Byleth self-consciously tried to slide even farther behind the bookshelf. Watching the younger versions of herself and Dimitri enter the room was somewhat… discomforting. If she was watching her own memory, then she technically was not prying into anyone's personal lives, but she still felt guilty for spying.

Was that the feeling rushing through her? Guilt? Or was it embarrassment?

"Based on the weight of the javelin and your own weight, that will affect the angle and amount of force you apply," the young professor went on. She must not have spotted either of the visitors in the room. The blue-haired woman stopped by a desk and began to flip through one of the books. "See this diagram?"

As the vision played out before her, Byleth wracked her brain and tried to figure out why Sothis had chosen this memory. If she was correct, this lesson had taken place after she had only been teaching at the academy for roughly a month. In fact, this may have been Dimitri's first private tutoring session with her.

"How are you adjusting to your life here, Professor?"

The sudden change in the conversation piqued the archbishop's interest. She tried to recall what she said in response. At the time, she had still been struggling to adapt to spending her life with a strict routine, seeing the same people every day, and learning the material that she was supposed to be teaching her students.

"It's been a little difficult," the young Byleth confessed. A straightforward, blunt, honest answer seemed appropriate for her. "But I enjoy it."

"Is that so?" Dimitri asked. A soft blush began to spread across his pale cheeks. "You seem so confident and composed when you instruct us, so I never would have guessed." For a brief moment, his eyes flickered from his professor's face to the book on the table. He quickly restored his eye contact with her, though, when he continued speaking. "You're talented, Professor. I could tell from the moment I met you. From the moment you saved us."

From her vantage point at the side of the room, Byleth could tell just how flustered Dimitri was becoming. Could her younger self see it too?

"You're talented yourself, Dimitri," the professor reassured him. "You're usually a quick learner. You'll be a fine king some day."

"I have you to thank," Dimitri insisted, and he seemed almost taken aback by his own vigor. "And thank you for choosing m-- the Blue Lions." He smiled sheepishly at her. "Hopefully what you say is true, and I will not need you to keep saving me. Here's to our future. Th-the Blue Lions' future, that is," he added quickly. "Now, err, how does throwing a javelin differ from throwing a hand axe?"

Byleth knew the answer, but she did not get to hear her younger self say it before the classroom disappeared from her view.

* * *

"Perhaps it would make more sense for me to wish that we'll be together forever."

From their viewpoint in the Goddess Tower itself, Byleth and Dimitri could witness the private scene unfolding between their younger selves. She remembered this meeting very vividly, and judging from the way he gripped her hand, Dimitri did as well.

"Did he mean that?" Byleth murmured to herself. As the man by her side squeezed her hand a little tighter, she began to feel confident in the answer. Dimitri may not have held much stock in the goddess, but even a prayer uttered in jest or with cynicism would be answered if the speaker truly wished for it. Sothis was haughty, snarky, and mischievous, but she was also wise, compassionate, and philanthropic in her own way.

"I still wish for that," Dimitri whispered. He took a step forward and Byleth followed, not wanting to let her husband slip away. "Every day with you is a blessing. Somehow, I feel as though this was truly the beginning of our forever." He turned to face her, and his gentle smile and the love shining in his eye were so tender that Byleth could not help but smile back at him in turn.

In one swift motion, the king pulled his wife in close to his chest. Even through his armor, she could hear the sound of his heart pounding. In some ways, he was still the same schoolboy that she met in a field all those years ago. He buried his cold nose in her silky green hair, and then began to pepper her face with pecks and smooches as he worked his way down to her lips.

While the pair in the Tower laughed and kissed and spun in circles in their blissful, eternal love, an actual schoolboy shot a glance upward in their direction. The sound of revelry had caught him off guard; almost everyone else on the monastery grounds was inside for the ball. Who were this blond, gruff-looking lion of a man, and this elegant but strong warrior of a woman? Why did they look so familiar?

"Dimitri?" A young Byleth cocked her head to the side as she addressed the teenage prince. "Are you feeling all right?"

The young man's face had become a brighter red than the roses in the gardens. He quickly turned his gaze back to his professor so as not to be rude, but when he snuck a peek back at the couple in the Tower, they had already vanished.

* * *

"Your Grace?"

Panicked, frenzied voices echoed inside Byleth's throbbing head when she regained consciousness. Much to her surprise, she was lying in a cot in the infirmary. Was this another vision?

"Oh, Your Grace!" Mercedes clutched her hand and kissed it softly. "We were so worried when you and Dimitri fainted in the office!"

Judging from the honorable title and Mercedes' short hair, Byleth was back in the present day. "I… Dimitri…" she stammered. "Dimitri!" She jolted upright but the sudden movement made her sight go blurry and her head go spinning once again. Mercedes helped lower her back into the cot, concern clearly visible on her gentle features.

"Dimitri is fine, profess- Your Grace," Annette reassured her as she poked her head from behind a nearby curtain. "He's been asking for you. More importantly…" The redhead pulled up a seat and plopped down right next to Byleth's bed. "Did you see anything? Did the spell work?"

"Now Annie, don't pester her when she just woke up," Mercedes chided softly. She chuckled and then turned to Byleth. "I am curious too, though… Did the goddess send you a message?"

Saving a mother and child from a fire.

Aiding a birthing mother.

Dimitri entrusting his future to her.

Dimitri wishing for eternity with her.

Families. Connections. Pathways. Blessings.

As Byleth pieced the puzzle together, her hand came to rest lightly on top of her stomach.

"The beginning," she breathed, and her lips spread into such a wide grin that she thought they might crack. "Please call Professor Manuela." Byleth nodded slowly. "King Dimitri as well. I think… I think the goddess was trying to tell me about a new beginning."

_ Their _ new beginning.

  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> MERRY BELATED CHRISTMAS YO!!! Thanks for being such an amazing friend! I hope you enjoyed this!


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